Comments on: Would you buy a videogame just because a big-name director worked on it?

By: LSIsaiah

LSIsaiah — Mon, 02 May 2011 17:03:40 +0000

Asian Handicap Asian handicap or disability is a value assigned to a team / player at the expense of others. Let's say we have a match between two teams, X and Y and X team is weaker than Y, and bringing it on par would be a handicap of two goals (ie, if X starts the game with two goals at the end of the match the two teams would be tied Ermine village). This eliminates the opportunity to bet on a draw. If team X has the handicap of two and the match ends in a 1 goal difference in favor of Y, then X team won. If Y fails to beat a difference of two goals, then the bet is returned (bet there is no winner or loser) Number of goals (over / under, total number of goals as the half with most goals, odd / even)

By: litrocl

litrocl — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:03:50 +0000

rellad

By: M

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:38:54 +0000

A video game project from either Jackson or Cameron could be interesting. Given both men’s love for cutting-edge technology, I feel they would be more involved in their games’ conceptions. Boom Blox was fun and sold almost half-a-million copies (is that “modest”? Really?), but it didn’t feel remotely Spielbergian. But like with every game, I purchased Boom Blox because it looked like a quality game, and not because so-and-so is attached to it.

By: Auriana

Auriana — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:40:35 +0000

In addition to what I posted below, I will admit that while I won’t buy a game because a big named director is attached to it, I am one of those rabid fangirls who will buy games off of a certain series or studio. I’ll buy pretty much any Final Fantasy game (though lack of money has forced me to skip Ring of Fates and Chocobo Dungeon), anything by Nippon Ichi/NIS, any game with Zelda in the title and anything from Gust (Atelier series, Mana Khemia, Ar Tonelico). I also have a soft spot for other Square Enix and Atlus rpgs.
Again, I think it all depends on the gamer and what they’re interested in. If it’s not a big name director influencing a buying decision, it’s the studio or series.

By: Rob Grizzly

Rob Grizzly — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:03:35 +0000

It’s my understanding that they hope to turn Zack Snyder’s games into movies sometime in the future. Kind of like how people are now writing comics solely for the hopes of selling the movie rights.
The whole idea is to create their own built-in fanbase from scratch. It’s an annoying notion, because there’s something artificial about that. Does Snyder or Cameron or Jackson know anything about making videogames? Not really. But as earlier posters have said, their names do sell. (The only reason I rented Stanglehold was because John Woo was involved).
I think we always hope or expect a game of higher quality when big-name directors are attached. Sometimes it works (Metal of Honor- Spielberg) sometimes it doesn’t.
As far as Snyder goes, I love both Dawn of the Dead and 300. But he didn’t create those. Nor did he Watchmen. Sure, he can adapt the hell out of something, but how good is he with coming up with original material?

By: t3hdow

t3hdow — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:47:03 +0000

Matt’s on point about name recognition’s effect on the videogame industry. With sequels, videogame franchises work, dare I say better than its film counterparts, since you’ll rile up any gamer with another iteration of Madden, Halo, Final Fantasy or Guitar Hero. Same with company names. Any hot project from Blizzard, Nintendo, Capcom or SquareEnix will garner huge attention compared to independent titles.
From my experience, having big name movie directors attached to a game usually doesn’t bat an eyelash for video gamers. Cinematic experiences may be nice and all (hell, the later Final Fantasies and Metal Gear Solid games integrate FMV very well), but at the end of the day, if it doesn’t help the game itself, you might as well focus the effort on issues that matter, like the basic gameplay mechanics. Having big name video game producers attached to projects (i.e. Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, Will Wright, Lorne Lanning), on the other hand, will garner bigger interest.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:25:55 +0000

People buy games based on the names associated with it all the time. Not necessarily who directed it, but the name of the game itself. Madden is bought solely because it was a good game for the past 10 years, it must be good now. Same with certain RPGs (Final Fantasy comes to mind, though declaring which one(s) isn’t any good can get you into fights).
I don’t believe any gamer would buy a game because a movie director is involved with the project. If a big name gaming producer is involved with it as well (Shinji Hasimoto or Sam Houser), gamers may take mention and buy the game out of curiosity (and have major expectations as well).

By: Auriana

Auriana — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:32:30 +0000

No, a big name director would not influence whether or not I buy a game. If the game is something I’d like to play and find interesting, then I’ll get it regardless of whether or not there’s a big name director. I love Peter Jackson but I don’t have much interest in Halo so I’ll steer clear. At the same time, I’m usually curious to see what they come up with. If any decide to make an RPG, then I’d probably be in line.

By: StaleCake

StaleCake — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:03:46 +0000

I don’t get your doubtfulness over Snyder. After Dawn of the Dead, 300, and Watchmen, he’s one of the few directors that CAN bring a fanbase to the game — a fanbase in the exact perfect demographic.